Contents

Early into her career as a mercenary, Elms worked for the Kel-Morian Combine on the contested world of Luria IV, where she was assigned to restore the peace. During the operation a nearby marauder was killed, and her mercenary leader pulled Elms up from cover, telling her mercenary work was cut and dry: you either live and get paid, or don't and die.[1]

Some time after the One-Day War, Elms was hired by a group of renegade Terran Dominion forces and was part of a salvage crew sent to the planet Adena to find stockpiles of jorium crystals in an abandoned mining outpost. In reality the commanders of the operation were keeping the crystals for themselves. It was in the Daelaam demiliarized zone, so the protoss under Admiral Urun watched them closely. Elms did not initially get in her CMC Powered Combat Suit as she had a "bad feeling about this place," but her commander demanded they suit up.[3]

Elms readies herself for the zerg

On the surface, the team found eighteen crates of jorium. However, Elms found some creep in the outpost. Just then, the zerg of the Niadra Brood attacked.[3]BroodmotherNiadra sensed that she was psionic, and sent her broods after Elms and her team with the intention of bringing Elms into her brood. Elms meanwhile was able to feel that the zerg were coming, and prepared her team.[4]

Elms meets with Urun

Her squad was surrounded by the zerg, but Elms was rescued with Admiral Urun arrived on the surface and fought back the zerg. Urun confronted her, but was surprised to find she was also a psionic. Elms said she tried to warn her people, but they wouldn't listen, and she knew it was a trap. She then told Urun they could either hide, or ally together to take out the queen leading the zerg.[5] The two forces held against the zerg, but soon Elms sensed a zerg presence from the caves behind them. She took her forces inside, in spite of their protests of her being a mercenary, and she told them her one goal was to escape this planet alive.[6] Inside the caverns, she encountered a group of infestors who attempted to implant larva into her and her squad. Elms defeated her attacker, but unbeknownst to them one larva made it into the suit of Gary.

Elms continued to lead her squad down into the caverns, much to the protests of Gary. Soon they found a large number of zerg laying in wait. Elms and her squad fought to the surface, with Elms revealing the true intentions of Captain Hogarth and Commander Naderi: to use the resources gathered to make themselves rich. Yong collapsed the caverns behind them, allowing the terrans to make it out of the caves. Above, Elms psionically contacted Urun, who told her what Niadra was, and that they were going to buy them time for them to escape the planet. Elms and her squad then moved toward the location of the nearest dropship.[7]

Elms senses Urun's death

As they ran for the dropship, Elms sensed Urun's death. Carter contacted Captain Hogarth, but as they didn't have the jorium he'd desired, he terminated the connection and left Elms and co. to die. Elms led the marines/mercenaries to the dropship, but they were attacked by the zerg. One of them killed Carter, and Elms, noting that he deserved better, used the last of her ammo to keep the creatures at bay. They retreated into a structure, intending to pass through it to reach the dropship on the other side. Within the structure, they came under attack by infestors, and Yong wondered if the zerg were tracking Elms. Elms conceded the point—she was the only psionic in the group, and as she could sense Niadra, it made sense that the broodmother could sense her. However, she'd rather die than be infested, and Yong told her that she could count on her if it ever came to that.

Niadra telepathically attacks Elms

The soldiers made their way through the structure and sprinted for the dropship. Gary was attacked by a zergling, but Elms used her C-14 rifle as a melee weapon to kill the creature. They entered the dropship, but the zerg were closing in on all sides. Elms went to the cockpit, but Niadra attacked her telepathically, causing her great pain. Yong knocked Elms out and piloted the ship off Adena, successfully escaping the zerg.[8]

Elms awoke aboard the dropship some hours later, hearing on the news that she and her group had been blamed for the battle, and confirmed to be dead. She walked to the jorium crates, reflecting on her time served on Luria IV. She was greeted by Yong, who told her a Terran Dominion battlecruiser was firing warning shots at them. Added to that, a squadron of vikings was also trying to shoot them down. Elms informed the group that she knew a place where they could sell the jorium, to which Gary accused her of trying to steal it for herself. Elms gave Gary a swift punch to the gut, and ordered the crew to move to the coordinates she plotted, evading the Dominion vikings in pursuit.[1]

Elms chokes Sykes

Elms arrived at the Last Junction to meet up again with James Sykes. She began to experience headaches and interference with her psionic powers from the jorium, but continued on, taking Turan with her to meet with Sykes. Her old friend was initially friendly, saying he'd find her a buyer, but when Turan attempted to contact their ship Sykes shot and killed him. Soon her squad contacted her, and Elms, trying to leave a message she had been double crossed, told Yong to split the haul three ways. Elms them attacked and subdued Sykes, breaking his neck. After the situation was settled, Yong contacted her again, revealing that Gary had been infested and was now loose on the outpost.[2]

Elms wiped her gun, took the jorium and began to track Gary down. When Elms suggested that they now could split the haul three ways, Yong reacted with anger, saying that she was better than that. Elms tracked Gary through the corpses he left in his wake, finding the infested terran in a bar. The two got into a fight, with Elms grabbing a flamethrower from a dead patron and igniting him. Gary shouted the Swarm would rise with or without her before dying.

Elms finds a new buyer

Behind her, a figure appeared with a gun ready, saying he was impressed she survived Adena. Elms told him to get away from her, and the figure told her that he knew a buyer for her jorium. Elms took him back to her ship, where she found Yong and Contreras, who were skeptical of Elms. Next to the group, Nova Terra uncloaked, stating she wanted to buy their stockpile.[9] Contreras reacted with anger that Elms had betrayed them, and shot at her. But Nova crushed her gun, saying she was good to buy their jorium. Riegel then gave them datapads with access information for shell accounts with their money, and began to leave.

Nova psionically contacted Elms, offering her a place in her Covert Ops Crew, telling her that she needed some way to control her psionic powers. However, Elms refused, saying she was a mercenary with her own path and would be beholden to nobody but herself. Nova and Elms parted ways, and with their haul sold, Elms told Yong and Contreras that she would be leaving them. However, before she could an explosion rocked their ship as a reaper blasted in.[10]

Their ship was surrounded by three reapers, but Elms sensed they were not from Nova, rather sent to take the jorium they had already sold. Elms told Yong to lift off, but one reaper had held on, and managed to detonate a demolition charge on their dropship, crashing it. They found Elms lying in the rubble, but it was a ruse, Elms rose and shot one of the reapers while Contreras and Yong ambushed them. Before they could kill the last reaper, Elms told her crew to hold their fire, and psionically probed his mind. She discovered they were hired by Captain Hogarth trying to cover his tracks from the Battle of Adena. The reaper tried to reach for his gun, and Elms shot him. Contreras and Yong told Elms that the only way they were going to stop this is by taking out Hogarth, and to do they they needed Nova's help. Though it knew it'd cost her some of her freedom, Elms agreed to talk to Nova.[11]

Elms used to drink, but gave up on the habit.[2] Her personality can come off as abrasive and callous to those around her.[9][3] Elms is fiercely independent, and does not care who she hurts in the way of her mission. She refuses to be beholden to anyone, and does not make attachments to those around her.[10]

Elms's cybernetic limb gives her phantom pain, which she attributes to being in "bad places," though in reality it is her psionic powers.[3] Her abilities include telepathy[5] and sense psionics, at least in regards to the zerg. However, her powers come and go, and as such, she doesn't mention them.[6] Reigel regarded her as being "quite resourceful."[9]